I drove up into the forest this morning to do some hiking. The temperatures were low, so the dirt roads were frozen solid but I managed to get pretty far out into the sticks before I started hiking. While I was out there, the temperature rose a lot and the roads turned into a real mudslide. Coming home, I found myself in the position of being unable to get my truck safely up a steep section of mud that had been a good solid road on the way in. I had to take an alternative route out. Unfortunately, the only other road that didn't seem dangerous at the time went through the Santa Clara Indian Reservation.

At the reservation border, there was an open gate with a sign which said that there was no trespassing, but that motor vehicle traffic was allowed (on established roads only). It wasn't clear if this meant it was OK for me to drive through, or not... but the alternative seemed unsafe and I only needed to traverse a short stretch of road on pueblo property, so I went ahead with it.

I got pulled over by a reservation cop about 100' after getting onto the main road. I explained why I was there and it was clear that he could care less. He gave me a $300 ticket for trespassing. WTF. I asked the guy why they didn't close the gate or make it clear on the sign that only pueblo members could drive on this road without getting a huge fine, to which I got the "FU whitey" smile.